We’ve entered into Spring and with the influx of enquiries, it seems the perfect time to write about the timeline of a landscape project.

If your project is on your ‘to be completed by Christmas’ list, then mid-year (or sooner!) is the ideal time to start planning. Besides the fact that Spring is the industry’s busiest time of the year so we book up well in advance, your landscape project is not one to be rushed. With the money that’s being invested, you only want to spend it once! It breaks my heart to be called into a landscape job gone wrong, and it’s happened plenty of times, where a structural mess has been left due to a rushed and cheap (possibly even unlicensed) job. And it was all in a quest to have it done as quickly as possible for the family Christmas. Any business that’s available had been selected (there is a good reason why companies are booked up well advance) and they start the build without being prepared properly (see article The Landscape Plan). Therefore a less than ideal result is met… so those expectations put around Christmas Day, lead to disappointment anyway. It’s just not worth it. Great things, take time.

Start the process at anytime of year, but be realistic about the timeframe you are hoping for completion. I would suggest as soon as you are serious about your landscape project, go ahead and make the enquiry, even if you don’t intend to build for quite a few months. Chances are the process may take longer than you think, not to mention at times our construction department is booked up to 6 months in advance, which actually just gives a good amount of time to get the design developed to perfection and sort out the relevant permits with your council.

Time frames vary a great deal depending on size and complexity of the works, but a major player in time will also be your decisiveness. So with that in mind, these are just estimates based on past projects to consider;

• Your enquiry, initial consultation, design brief (this includes deciding on features and budget) 1- 2 weeks
• Site measurements, design development first stage 1-3 weeks
• Concept development 1-3 weeks
• Construction quote, acceptance, contract and booking deposit 1-2 weeks –its at this stage your project can be scheduled in for construction
• Permit application, surveying correspondence with designer and council, additional permits if requested from council, engineer drawings, permit received 2- 8 weeks (if applicable)
• Construction time depends on size & complexity of works 2 weeks- 6 months

Dream big and access your creative mind when it comes to your project vision, but keep your logical mind when it comes to time-frame. Solid foundations, depth in design and experience, all have too much substance to be built over night. Every project is worthy of having heart and soul invested into the design and also the craftsmanship of the build. It should be an enjoyable process, remember it’s the journey that make up the moments of our lives, not the end destination. The experience you can have throughout the process can be some of those joyful moments remembered in the years of experiences your landscape will host (see article).

So plan ahead and embrace the whole process, then strap yourselves in and come for a ride on our journey, because we LOVE what we do, and as Aristotle says ‘pleasure in the job, puts perfection in the work’.